A conversation with Officer Smith:

Hi Officer Smith. You would not believe what I just witnessed! I am shocked even now as we speak!

What happened?

Well, you wouldn’t believe it. You see, as I was driving down the road, a mini-van didn’t even bother to stop at a stop sign. They just did one of those slow-and-go things and they pulled right out in front of me. But that wasn’t the worst thing. They had one of those fishes on the back. (whispering) They are Christians.

Can you believe they call themselves Christians and then don’t even bother to stop at a stop sign? Well, I never would do that. I am a good Christian - I would never run a stop sign. They are so hypocritical!

Do I know how fast I was going? Well, I’m not sure.

Oh. 10 miles over the speed limit? That’s not bad. I thought I was speeding.

I was speeding? You must be joking! Everyone knows that you can go over the speed limit a little without actually “speeding”.

10 miles over is speeding? You have got to be serious. Where were you when those other bozo’s ran the stop sign? What they did is much worse. You should give them a ticket.

Oh. OK. Just give me the ticket so I can leave. Yes. I will slow down.

Thank you Officer Smith. I’ll be praying for you.

Think about it….

Almost every day when I take my daughter to school the song “Cartoons” by Chris Rice is playing on KLOVE. This is a fun song and Sarah really likes it. For the longest time, we never knew who sang it. Finally, today I did a Google search to find out who sang the song. My search came up with Chris Rice and a link to his website. On his website, he published an article entitled “Eulogy For A Song About Cartoons”, about why he has decided to stop performing this song live. I have to admit, when I read the article, I was left saying “HUH?”.

It seems as if this song has been kind of controversial! A lot of people LOVE it. It has been (and probably still is) one of the most requested songs on Christian radio. Others rebuff his “cartoon praise” theology. He says in his article that it was written as a satire and that nobody got it. Everyone took it as legit!

I like the song. It is a fun song to sing. The point of the song is correct. It isn’t for cartoons to praise God, that is what we were made to do! I also take issue with those who say it is bad theology! If we were created to praise God, then anything we do should be to praise God! If you are a cartoon artist, then drawing a cartoon praising God could be your way of praising God. In the Bible, Paul reminds us in Colossians 3:23 that in EVERYTHING we do, we should do it as we are doing it for the Lord! That says to me that everything we do has a spiritual context.

Are you a part-time Christian or a full-time Christian? Think about it before you answer.

While you think, I’ll just sing “Yabba-dabba-do-lu-yah!”